When I got my Cricut Explore Air I was so excited with all the possibilities! There were (and still are) so many things I want to make. One of the first things I knew I wanted to make was a sign for my office/ craft room. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out- especially because it ended up being one of the easiest projects ever!

I wanted the sign to reflect my personality and blog design, so that meant sticking with my color scheme of mint and navy. The sign is the highlight of the wall, but the wall also features polka dot decals, which is what made me want to make it round. In all- I really couldn’t be happier with it. I think I just have a love of customized signs ever since the ones I made for our wedding!

I played with a lot of different ideas for the sign lettering- different fonts and phrases. And Procrastination Studio seemed to be the perfect name for my workspace. If you couldn’t tell just from the name of my blog- I am a bit of a procrastination expert.

So after a big response from sharing my sign on social media I decided to finally write a post about it! Keep reading for step by step instructions on how I made this adorable and easy sign on the Cricut.

Supplies:

• A Cricut cutting machine (I use the Cricut Explore Air)
• Cricut mat
• Vinyl 
• Vinyl transfer tape
• Wood sign (I used this one)
• Craft paint
• Paint brush
• Mod Podge (optional)
• Cricut tools (optional)

Step One: Paint sign back

Pick out whatever color you want your sign back to be and paint your sign that color. I mixed a mint color with white to get a lighter color and painted my sign using a simple paint brush with craft paint. Let it dry in between coats.

I also used mod podge over the paint to give it a glossier finish, but this is totally optional.

Step Two: Design Sign

The first step is to design your sign. Decide what words you want the sign to say, and pick out fonts. You can do this on Cricut design space, or on a photo editing program. A .png file is the best format to upload to Cricut design space in my experience, because the transparent areas will be treated like empty space.

When you upload an image into cricut design space, you can “select and erase” out the white space. This will tell the machine where to cut. Don’t forget to select the spaces inside letters, like the circle inside the letter “o.”

Make sure your layer is set to cut.

(If you’re a cricut newbie and this sounds confusing to you, I previously wrote a more detailed post with pictures you can refer to).

Step Three: Cut vinyl on cricut

Once you have your design ready, you’ll want to cut your vinyl. Stick the vinyl onto your cutting mat, load the mat into the machine, and press cut!

When the vinyl is cut, you want to peel or “weed” off the excess vinyl, leaving only the letters you want to transfer. You can use the cricut weeder to get out the small pieces, like the insides of letters.

Step Four: Apply vinyl with transfer tape

I’ve given the instructions here for using transfer tape- but if you want to see step by step pictures on how to use transfer tape, I have a detailed how to you can refer to in a previous post

Peel off the back of the transfer tape, and place the sticky part on top of your design. Use a credit card or a scraper tool to scrape the design to make sure the vinyl is well-adhered to the transfer tape. Slowly peel the transfer tape up. The vinyl letters should come up, but if they don’t, just replace the tape and scrape over the top again. This may take a few tries.

When you’ve got the design on the transfer tape, align the tape onto your sign where you want it to go. Press down firmly, and you can use a credit card or scraper here again. Slowly peel away the transfer tape, and the design should stick to your sign. If it doesn’t stick down, put the tape back down and rub again.

Then your sign should be finished! I told you this was easy!

Step Five: Hang

Now your sign is ready to go! You can hang it up. I’m a huge fan of the command hanging strips, and I used those to hang this sign.

And now just step back and admire!

This was my first lettering project with the cricut, and it went really well! The sign turned out EXACTLY how I imagined. You may recognize the above photo from my about me page.

I mean seriously, who DOESN’T want a procrastination studio?

The sign is definitely the highlight of the office. I’ll be doing a full office reveal sometime soon so you get to see the whole thing! But the combination of the polka dots with my sign is by far my favorite part of the office.

Which is my favorite room of the house.

I love how it looks hanging in my office. It makes me smile every time I see it!

My office is definitely my procrastination studio- I spend most of my time in there procrastinating- making crafts, organizing, editing photos, painting watercolors… you name it.

What are you waiting for? Let me know how making your own sign on the Cricut goes for you!

Supplies used in this post

The post Easy DIY Sign Lettering: Cricut Project appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

There’s so much to love about printing on fabric! It removes the mess and potential error from using stencils, and you have so much more flexibility in what you can make. You can print anything from your computer, including text and photos. Plus it’s super easy!

Ever since finding the original tutorial from Ella Claire I’ve loved this easy craft. It’s perfect for wedding decorations, awesome wall art, amazing printed photos, or for adding simple patterns to fabric to sew. Using fabric instead of paper in a banner makes it look much more sophisticated. Honestly, there are so many great things you can do once you realize just how easy it is to print on fabric!

I can’t emphasize enough how easy this craft is. If you can even call it a craft- because it will just feel like printing on plain paper. So just keep scrolling to read the whole tutorial.

Tools and Supplies:

• Printer (I love my brother printer)
• Fabric (I used this fabric)
• Full page printable labels
• Sharp pair of scissors (I’m obsessed with my cutco scissors, but here is a less expensive one!)
• Iron (I love my iron!)

All right, let’s get started!

Step One: Iron fabric

It’s important to have wrinkle free fabric so that it doesn’t get caught in the printer. You’ll want to iron out all the kinks. And, for good measure, you can use a little homemade starch spray to keep the stiffness.

Step Two: Stick labels to fabric

This is the genius part that makes printing on fabric so easy! The trick of printing on fabric without issues is to make your fabric paper-sized and stiff so that it goes through your printer easily.

Luckily, this is super easy to do with full page labels. All you have to do is peel the labels off the backing and stick them firmly to the fabric.

I was able to get 10 sheets of “paper” out of 1.5 yards of fabric. Try to find the most space efficient way to lay your labels out on your fabric. Don’t worry about making them straight or equidistant because you will just be cutting them out. You can see how I laid mine out above.

Step Three: Cut to paper size

It’s really important to use sharp scissors, or this will just be a frustrating frayed mess. I tried with regular craft scissors at first, but ended up switching to my amazing cutco scissors. Cutco or not, sharp scissors will make this so much easier.

Simply cut around your full-page labels. When cut out, this should leave you with printer sized sheets of fabric (8.5×11 inches). One side will have the fabric on it, the other the label. See the photo above.

Step Four: Print

Now we’re at the last step- actually printing! It could be really easy to mess up and print on the label side instead of the fabric side, so make sure you do a test sheet. Make sure you mark where it is loaded so you know how you should load your fabric “paper” into your printer. You can use your test sheet as a guide. For example, if the mark you made was facing up and it prints on the opposite side, you will want to load fabric side down.

I loaded mine one sheet at a time, with no other paper in the paper tray, so that the printer doesn’t have the chance to accidentally pull up two sheets. I also made sure to trim any frays from the edges so they wouldn’t get caught in the printer.

Make sure you set your printer setting to “thick paper.”

And that’s it- then you’ll have your amazing printed fabric! You can just peel off the labels and your fabric will be ready to go.

I’ve used this tutorial to make an amazing fabric banner, but the applications are endless! You can use this to print out a design that you then can sew, or for some next level wall art.

Any way you use it, this is an awesome craft! Let me know how printing on fabric goes for you.

Supplies Used in This Post

The post How to Print on Fabric: Easy Craft appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

It’s quite the compliment when a real coffee lover tells you that they love you MORE than coffee. You and coffee are probably the only two things they can’t live without. This DIY sharpie mug is the perfect DIY gift for the coffee lovers in your life! I made one for my husband and he really loved it. Plus it was so fast and easy to make, and only cost me about $5 to make! For a sweet and personal gift- that is a great deal!

I had a lot of fun making this mug. If you want to make one too, read on, and I’ll tell you how!

First things first, you’re going to need the design for the mug. If you want to use the one I used, you can download it by clicking the picture below. But the great thing about this DIY sharpie mug is that it is versatile and you can customize the mug to say whatever you want!

Supplies:

• A plain mug (I got mine at Target in the clearance section, but here is a great one.)
• Oil-based sharpie paint pens (if you use regular sharpies, the design will wash off)
• A mechanical pencil
• Masking tape
• The design you want on your mug printed to actual size

Step One: Print and Shade Design

The first step is to choose the design for your mug. I chose handwriting-type fonts because I knew that my hand isn’t perfect and I tend to make little mistakes. In case you are wondering, the two fonts I used are The Hand and Shoreline Script.

Next, print out your design and cut it out so it isn’t surrounded by extra paper.

Use the lead from your mechanical pencil to shade in the entire back of your design, like you can see below. The darker it is, the easier it will be to trace.

Step Two: Trace Design with Pencil

The next step is to trace your design onto the mug. Make sure you have washed and cleaned your mug before you start. You want to trace slowly and carefully.

To trace the design, tape your design onto the mug with masking tape. The side you just shaded in should be touching the mug and the design should be facing out.

Put the lead back into the mechanical pencil, and trace the outline of your design, pressing a little harder than you do when you write. I turned my mug on its side to do this.

Step Three: Trace Design with Sharpie

First, remove the tape and design from your mug. You will be left with an outline in pencil that you just traced. You can see my outline in the picture below.

You should now go over and fill in the design with your sharpie.

Step Four: Bake Mug

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. When your oven is ready, cook your mug for 30 minutes, then turn off the oven. Leave the mug inside and let it come to room temperature. This will prevent any cracking,

And now your DIY sharpie mug should be ready to go!

Unfortunately, this mug is not dishwasher safe, and should be washed by hand. But other than that, I think it is absolutely perfect!

I mean, come on, that is a darn cute mug. Lars definitely agrees:

He really loved it, and was super impressed. He is often impressed by how good these DIY projects come out- but I always say they are easier than they look! This DIY Sharpie Mug only took me about 20 minutes plus baking time. Really a great DIY!

Anyone with an ounce of creativity can make these. And if you don’t have an ounce of creativity… you can just copy the design I made and follow the tutorial exactly!

I mean, c’mon, that mug looks pretty great with coffee in it.

Even Biscuit loves it… that dog would eat or drink anything we let him. He actually was begging to get some coffee. I don’t think the cute mug hurt…

Biscuit, for the record, I love you more than coffee too!

Let me know how making your own DIY Sharpie Mug goes for you!

supplies used in this post

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Everyone knows that weddings are expensive! I experienced this first hand when planning my wedding for last October. You really have to save money anywhere you can. You know I love crafting and saving money-so I got to work. I really wanted to have some rustic looking custom wood signs around the venue.

I decided to make our own signs to save on some money. I knew I could use this great DIY method to make my own awesome looking sign. This simple technique will give you professional looking results for a fraction of the cost! This sign for our wedding cost me less than $10 to make.

That being said… this isn’t the easiest DIY out there. I make DIYs all the time that I say anyone can do- but I don’t think ANYONE could do this one. I’m not trying to discourage you, just letting you know it will still take some fine motor skills. But if you’re up for the challenge, the results will absolutely make it worth it!

So let’s get to the technique!

Tools to make your DIY custom wood signs:

• Wood sign (I got mine at Michael’s, but here is a similar one and here is another)
• Printer (I love my brother printer!)
• Ballpoint pen
• Masking tape
• Paint (Here is a single white, but this is the set I have)
• Small paintbrush (this set looks nice)

Step One: Print your words in your desired font and size

This should be your easiest step (unless you take as much time to pick out fonts as me!). Just print out your words in the font, layout, and size you want them on your sign.

If you are a bit of a messier painter, try going with a brush script like Bakery or Freeland. Neater fonts are harder to fill in- mistakes will show more.

The fonts I used are Goodlife Script and Typnic Tilted.

If you want you can cut around the words to position them where you want them to be on the sign. Use masking tape to tape them onto the sign where you want them to go.

Step Two: Trace your letters with a pen

After taping your printed words where you want them to be, trace the edges with a ballpoint pen. You don’t need to press very hard, but you should use decent pressure. This will leave outlines for you to fill in.

Step Three: Fill in with paint

The last thing to do is paint! I did two or three coats.You can see in the picture below that your tracing will leave nice lines that you can just fill in. It’s easier than it sounds.

Step Four: Hang and enjoy!

And enjoy your wallet being just slightly heavier and your hands just slightly messier :)

I don’t know about you, but I love crafting. In the weeks leading up to our wedding it totally helped me de-stress. I just turn on a podcast and get to work. Focusing on the detail work is really meditative. There’s a reason adult coloring is so popular!

I did end up improvising and painting a bit out of the lines on some of the letters. I accidentally taped my words down on a slight angle, so I had to correct them to straighten them out. So really make sure your letters are straight before you start tracing!

The sign was wonderful at our wedding! Here it is on our dessert table.

There are so many different applications for this DIY! Wood signs also make a great gift or fun decor project for the house.

I actually used this technique a few weeks after our wedding to make a gift for my good friend who got married. I made them a sign with their new last name to hang in their new place. It has such a different look from the sign I made for our wedding, and it uses the same technique!

I’ve actually kept our wedding hashtag sign and I plan to hang it in our craft room/ office. That is if I ever get done unpacking in there! But that’s a topic for another day…

This technique is so reliable, and the applications are literally endless- so get out there and make yourself some custom wood signs!

Supplies Used In This Post

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Making an amazing, professional, and clean looking banner doesn’t have to be hard or cost a lot of money! I am so excited to share this amazing tutorial with you today. I was able to make a 20-letter banner for our wedding in about one hour total, for only $20. I loved the idea of printing onto fabric instead of paper, which really elevated the project and made it look so amazing. You will not believe how easy this is to make!

The results of this DIY are amazing. It is so simple and takes so little effort overall. Definitely one of my favorite craft projects so far. I found the instructions from Ella Claire and it was too wonderful not to try! And it really is perfect in time for valentines day.

So let’s get to it… here’s how I made it!

Tools and Supplies:

• Sharp pair of scissors (I’m obsessed with my cutco scissors, but here is a less expensive one!)
• Printer (I love my brother printer)
• Fabric (I used this fabric)
• Full page printable labels
• Mini Clothespins
• String or ribbon (this one is so cute!)

Step One: Iron fabric

The first thing you want to do is iron your fabric so it is perfectly neat and flat. Kinked fabric will not go through your printer.

Step Two: Stick labels to fabric

Peel the full-page labels off their backing and stick them to the fabric. I was able to get 10 sheets of “paper” out of 1.5 yards of fabric. Don’t worry about sticking them straight because you will just be cutting them out. Try to find the most space efficient way to lay them out.

Step Three: Cut to paper size

Next, simply cut around your full-page labels. When cut out, this should leave you with printer sized sheets of fabric (8.5×11 inches). One side will have the fabric on it, the other the label. See the photo below.

Sharp scissors are a must here. I tried using my messy well-used craft scissors but they were just making frays and frustrating me no end. So I switched to using my amazing cutco scissors and they were perfect.

Step Four: Print

Now this is the part that would be the easiest to mess up. Run a test sheet through your printer, making sure you mark which direction it is loaded in. Use this as a guide to help you load the fabric correctly for printing. For example, if the mark you made was facing up and it prints on the opposite side, you will want to load fabric side down. This is the case with my printer, but everyones may be different.

I load mine one sheet at a time, with no other paper in the paper tray, so that the printer doesn’t have the chance to accidentally pull up two sheets.

Make sure you set your printer setting to “thick paper.”

The just go through one at a time and print out all the letters you need for your banner.

If you need a template to add your letters to- don’t worry! I’ve made one for you. I’ve made both a microsoft word template and an editable pdf.

Step Five: Cut out and hang!

The last step is to cut out your printed fabric pennant letters! You can see the outlines of the pennants I cut on in the photo above.

I hung my letters on a string using mini clothespins. You can also hot glue letters to a cute ribbon. I liked using the clothespins because your letters are then removable and reusable- you can see in the photo below how I originally used my letters, but I reused them to make the cute “love” banner you are also seeing.

The banner was definitely a hit at our wedding! Our place card set up was so cute and unique. I will probably post a tutorial on how to make the place card ladders. We had our guests replace their place cards with an instant photo of themselves! The instant are some of my favorite pictures from our wedding. Gotta love those instax mini cameras!!

You can see in the photos the fabric absorbed some of the ink from the printer, leaving a cool faded vintage looking effect, which was just what I wanted. The letters were definitely big and clear enough for everyone to read.

And how cute does it look? I love it.

I am so excited about this awesome technique- I’m going to use it to make cute holiday banners too! I definitely could not be more happy about how these pennants turned out.

Let me know how printing your own fabric banner goes for you!

Supplies Used in This Post

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Having a good looking sink area really elevates a kitchen. A fun and good looking dish soap dispenser really makes a difference! I was getting sick of leaving out the dish soap bottle on the sink, but I didn’t want to spend a crazy amount of time making something complicated. Luckily this project was inexpensive and easy- and it only takes about 10 minutes to complete!

We were just about to run out of dish soap, so I figured it was a good time to make a new dish soap dispenser! I was also planning to make our own dish soap- but that ended up being a huge failure and unfortunate waste of ingredients. I guess that’s the risk you run when you try/ tweak recipes from pinterest. (But I’m not giving up yet!)

I’ve seen tutorials on how to make all kinds of etched glass things- monogrammed glasses, mason jars, glass decorations, you name it. Well, a glass olive oil bottle makes a perfect canvas for an adorable dish soap dispenser.

And seriously, you won’t believe how easy it is! Even the craft-challenged can take this craft on.

Supplies:

• A glass dispenser (olive oil bottle or mason jar with a pump work well)
• Etching stencils (these are the best, in my opinion)
• Armour Etch Cream (I recommend buying this in a craft store rather than online- it was more inexpensive for me and easy to use a coupon)
• Masking Tape
• A cheap paintbrush or sponge brush

Step One: Apply Stencil and Tape

Make sure any fingerprints or dirt are washed off the surface you want to etch. Dish soap works fine.

The Martha Stewart Stencils are my favorite because they stick to your glass and they are reusable. Pretty awesome.

Lay out the design you want to etch, making sure the stencils overlap each other slightly. Then, surround the design with masking tape, overlapping the stencil. I decided I wanted my bottle to say Suds because it is more fun and adorable than Dishes or Soap. You don’t need to limit yourself to letters- you can do any kind of design you like.

Step Two: Apply Armour Etch Cream

Using a cheap paintbrush or sponge brush, apply a thick layer of armour etch cream. Make it thick enough so you can’t see the design through it. Even thicker than in the picture above.

Let the cream sit on the bottle for a minute or two, and then….

Step Three: Rinse Cream

Simply rinse the cream off under a stream of lukewarm water. The stencil may get displaced, but it’s fine, because the etching is already done! If you want, you can use a glass cleaner after rinsing the cream off to get that extra shine.

Step Four: Admire!

Check it out- you made that! And it was super easy. Now show it off to your friends and let them think you are an expert etcher…

I think these would make a great DIY gift! Don’t you?

Even though I don’t have any homemade dish soap to fill it with, I still think it is adorable. I’m still gonna keep trying homemade dish soap recipes- don’t you worry. And I will only post one if it is successful.

I challenge those of you who think you are bad at crafts to try this one out! Send me a picture of the results, and I will post them on the blog! Seriously, this craft is so easy- anyone can do it!

If you liked this post, you should check these out too:

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